this is fox 5 news at 10:00. fox 5 watching a big story, a house fire possibly sparked by a downed power line. tonight the homeowner is blaming pepco for not acting quickly enough. the northeast tonight digging out from the snow. thousands of holiday travelers still stranded, some of them for days. >> we dodged that snowstorm. instead we're dealing with bone chilling wind, some gusts clocking in around 50 miles per hour. thanks for joining us. i'm brian bolter. >> and i'm laura evans. we are still dealing with gusts topping 50 miles per hour,ed wind chill plunging

into the teens tonight. fox 5's sue palka starts us off in the weather center. >> i'm sure a lot of people are grateful we missed out on the snow, but the same storm that produced that crippling snowstorm for places like ocean city, boston, new york, philadelphia and central new york is producing our winds tonight. the wind advisory canceled at 9:00, but we're still seeing some pretty strong winds out there, 30-mile an hour gusts still being reported at reagan down from their high of 53 miles per hour earlier today. we're still picking up a couple 30 miles an hour. when you combine that with a temperature in the 30s, it t feels like it's in -- it feels like it's in the teens. check out the peak wind gusts this morning when we were seeing the strongest of those winds including 55 at reagan, dulles 53, bwi46, flint maryland and frederick 66-mile an hour wind gusts. leesburg had a gust of 46 and warrenton 53 miles per hour.

now the temperatures are cold. they're not as bitter as we've had other nights because of that wind, but it is down to 28 in gaithersburg, 33 in the district, dulles 30 and martinsburg 29 and, of course, with those big winds our wind chills are already down to about 15 degrees in martinsburg. you can see winchester feels like 16, gaithersburg feels like 14 and here in washington it feels like 21 degrees. the winds are going to be with us again tomorrow. they aren't going to gust to 55 miles an hour, but 20 and 30- mile an hour wind gusts will be common. you'll have to dress for that. coming up we'll talk about that very challenging snowstorm forecast and why that storm in particular was so very difficult a bit later. >> thanks very much. pepco says they aren't sure yet if that wind led to a house fire in northwest today. the homeowner is blaming pepco claiming the power company ignored calls for help for hours. fox 5's bob barnard is in the newsroom with that story tonight. >> well, it's the time lapse from the first calls to pepco

until utility crews showed up that angers the man whose house is a shell of its former self tonight. the house was not destroyed but damaged enough that lou constantine owe and his family are moving -- constantio and his family are moving out for the time being. >> we're moving out and we'll start rebuilding as soon as we can. >> it was a smoky smoldering type deal. >> reporter: an electrical fire that may have been caused by a downed wire sparking flames outside the house at manning place and macarthur boulevard first spotted around 10 a.m. after the power went out inside the house. constantino said he called pepco and the fire department. only the firefighters showed up. >> the bushes and these wires were catching on fire. there's a car over there that almost caught on fire and they called pep course toll them it was an emergency -- told them it was an emergency and they still didn't come. >> reporter: almost four hours

later a pepco crew arrived around 4 a.m. he noticed smoke inside the house and again called 911. >> my house burned down because of pepco. that's why. that's what i think. >> when this guy says it's pepco's house his house caught fire, what do you say that to that? >> that's a very harsh statement to say which is why we're going to get all the facts. once we get all the facts then the homeowner and the public will have all the answers. >> reporter: pepco's clay anderson says he's not sure why it took crews four hours to get there. >> i'd like to help them out with the timeline. my neighbors and father-in-law and the fire department can help them, too because we all stood out here for hours waiting for them to come. >> what we know right now, both d.c. fire and ems are currently investigating the situation. also pepco is involved in an investigation. once we have more information we'll be able to present that information, but now it's still an ongoing investigation. >> reporter: relatives visiting from central florida will spend the rest of their vacation in a hotel.

>> nobody was hurt. the firemen were great. they're the only ones who are getting the good mark here. >> reporter: this afternoon pepco told us its crews were extremely busy responding to weather-related calls for service, but tonight spokesman anderson said he cannot say whether that huge volume of calls played a role in what happened on manning place today. >> not the last that we've heard of this one. a state of emergency across the northeast, winter weather bringing the city that never sleeps to its knees. new yorkers are coping with the worst of a storm that dropped nearly 2 feet of snow. this is the fifth worst storm in the city's history. streets impassable at times, snowplows barely making a dent. two subway trains in queens stalled early this morning leaving riders stuck in snow drifts for hours with no heat or barmes. >> no heat -- or bathrooms. >> no heat, no nothing.

we're not going nowhere, not now. one damn trane with no heat. >> a -- train with no heat. >> >> the trains finally got moving again this afternoon. to the south the biggest problems, ice on the roads now causing hundreds of accidents. north carolina got more than a foot of snow in some areas. grounded, thousands of airline passengers are still stuck in airports and hoping to catch a flight in the next day or two. the blizzard of 2010 forced new york's three major airports to close for most of the day today but they reopened this evening with just limited service. here in our area the airports are open but flights heading to snow bound destinations were canceled. passengers tried to make the best of it. >> it's been disappointing now that i'm here at the airport and i see that my flight to detroit has been canceled. i may try to reschedule. >> we had a flight going out this evening, which we were pretty sure would be canceled.

so this morning we changed our tickets to one that was going they've at 1:00. we pull in the parking lot and that one's been canceled. >> the airlines recommend that you call ahead before heading out to the airport to see if your flight is delayed or canceled. joining us now to talk about that problem that the airlines are facing in this type of weather is captain mark weiss, a retired pilot with american airlines and currently a member of the civil aviation team in alexandria. thanks for being with us. you were a pilot 20 years. give us your take on this. bottom line, had monday safe is it to fly in these kind of conditions? >> thank you for having me. there's a difference between being unsafe and uncomfortable. professional pilots and airlines don't do things that are unsafe. they may not necessarily be the most comfortable to a traveler, but we don't bump the margins when it comes to safety. >> they error on the side of caution obviously, the airlines. are they sometimes, though, being too cautious?

>> well, you know, airlines don't make money if planes sit on the ground and you're dealing withprofessionals. the type of reasons that people or airlines will cancel a flight are really in the best interest of the traveling public at large. >> and so travelers need to remember that it's not just a burden for them. it's obviously a burden for the airlines. what kind of impact does this have on the airlines? >> well, you have to remember when an aircraft is stuck somewhere, so usually it's two, that airplane is oftentimes way in advance scheduled for maintenance checks. the crew is scheduled to be in many different places over a number of different days. you're talking about the cost of deicing fluids, cost of hotel rooms, cost of putting that aircraft back into service in a timely manner. it's a very costly endeavor to keep an airplane out of service for something like this, but if it's the right thing to do and

it's the safe thing to do, that's what you do. >> based on your 20 years of experience, how do you think the airlines have handled this go round? >> rather wisely. you know, making the preemptive cancellations is a smart thing to do and it notifies the public way in advance of what's going to be happening and it keeps the airplanes available to be used in other areas where the weather is not impacting flights and being ready to put those it aircrafts back into service along with the crews into the areas that have been impacted as quickly as possible. >> well, we do hope it happens sooner than later for the sake of all parties. captain mark weiss, thanks very much for your perspective on this. >> thank you. meantime to the rails, amtrak is slowly getting back to normal. they resumed service now to new england. earlier today train service between new york's penn station and new jersey hit a snag when some signal lights weren't working, but repairs have been made. service is back now. trains between new york and

washington were not affected by the blizzard, but d.c. passengers did experience delays heading north. the weather concerns kept a lot of people home when they normally would have been out either exchanging gifts they didn't want or taking advantage of those post christmas sales. however, retailers were happy with the season and, of course, online shopping is a big reason why. it's easy to do when you're stuck inside and have weather concerns, right? according to a consumer watch agency called spending pulse, shoppers went 5 1/2% more than they did last year. online sales were up over 15%, but stores are always willing to welcome more shoppers. stacey cohan found some who went out today to get the goods they didn't get on christmas. >> gary, can you please come down to the service desk and help out? >> reporter: brian rizinz is a busy man. the rockdale target store he manages is packed 1 wanted

package returns and sale -- with unwanted package returns and sale seekers. it seems the sixth sense of shoppers was delayed. >> we're getting a lot of that today. >> reporter: so what is everybody returning here? you name it. everything from bathing suits to barbie shoes, but what is their loss can be your gain. clearance sales are in full swing and you may get some returned items at bargain prices. here at target every fluffy stocking and sparkling ornament are deeply discounted. you can even get a little hope at half price. >> it's a pretty good deal, yeah. 50% off and ready for next year. >> reporter: if next year is a repeat of this year, retailers will be rejoicing. mastercard a spending pulse is reporting a 5 1/2% uptick in sales. total spending from november 5th to christmas eve was $584 billion, the best in five

years. even many returners plan to spend again. >> do you want to trade it for a different color? okay. you can leave this here. >> you bought shoes. >> both for myself. they're on sale. i'm returning his shoes and getting myself some new ones. >> reporter: the question is when you return something, do you go ahead and buy something else or is this good? >> i have to buy a rug for myself, but it's -- she has enough presents as is. >> reporter: but at half price is it ever really enough? stacey cohan, fox 5 news. six months ago today someone killed a young woman in northern virginia. tonight as her loved ones try to cope we are talking to a criminal profiler about the murder mystery that has stumped police. 

it is a murder case that has stumped investigators six months later. they're still no closer to finding very vanessa pham's killer. the 19-year-old was found stabbed to death in fairfax after her car crashed. today friend and family came together in a special place that will forever honor

vanessa's memory. fox 5's sherri ly was there for the emotional tribute. >> reporter: it's an ordinary bench with extraordinary meaning. vanessa pham spent many days and nights at the vienna town green before being murdered. connor schmitz, a close friend and vanessa's senior prom date, remembers it well. >> we used to do picnics here and sit out and watch the stars sometimes at night. >> reporter: the bench is a celebration of vanessa's life, 19 short years in which she filled so many lives with joy and laughter. >> not only are we remembering her, but the whole community is. >> reporter: june 27th, six months ago, the day vanessa's murder changed their lives. her mom said vanes aves their life. surveillance tape shows -- vanessa was their life. surveillance tape shows vanessa entering the shopping center in her scion about 3 p.m. sunday and leaving 30 minutes later after visiting a nail

salon. right after that vanessa was found stabbed to death behind the wheel of her car on arlington boulevard crashed in a ditch. vanessa's murder continues to frustrate police. tips continue to trickle in, but as the days go by it becomes much more difficult. >> they've gone back and actually interviewed people that they interviewed months ago to see if they had thought of anything again. >> reporter: but police have no eyewitnesses. >> the fact that it's dragging on so much, it just brings so much pain and hurt every month when it hit the 27th. >> reporter: now they can come back to this bench, a place that will always be here even though vanessa won't. >> i don't know. she was a good girl. >> reporter: each day they keep hope that one day police will find answers. in vienna sherri ly, fox 5 news. . >> wanted to delve deeper into this tonight, so we brought in criminal profiler pat brawn.

when you hear a stabbing in -- pat brown. when you hear a stabbing in a car, does that say to you that vanessa knew her killer? >> i absolutely believe that she knew her killer. it just makes no sense that she could be with someone in that car, drive along so calmly, stop at a light, turn the corner and suddenly somebody kills her for no reason. so it had to be some kind of rage that came out by somebody i believe that she knew. >> i would imagine since both of us are kind of on to this, the police were definitely onto this from the get go. do you feel like the police are trying to get somebody out there who knows something about this case to come forward, more so than perhaps an eyewitness to who may have seen something go down? >> right. i think at this point i don't believe they're going to find that eyewitness, but they may know somebody who knew somebody else who was involved in this crime. maybe they said something, talked about a specific day they were there, their interest in vanessa or some problem. they're hoping sometimes it's an ex-girl friend of somebody that comes forward, an ex-wife, somebody who is now mad at person who says wait a minute.

he said something strange to me and he knows vanessa and i think maybe you should take a look at him. i think that's what they're hoping for, that they'll get that kind of break. >> i want to pick up on that rage theme. does this kind of crime lead to a specific personality type or specific type of situation bringing the victim and killer together? >> we usually find out this kind of attack, there's some kind of relationship between the two people even if the one person doesn't really know it. sometimes they see that with stalkers where they can be friendly and you say sure, i'll give you a ride, but they're thinking you're my girl friend or something like that and they say let's do this and she says no way and he becomes very angry because she's not going to be his. it could be something like that, but that rage attack, we're talking about it con so quickly that we don't see her waving at anybody, slamming on her horn. the car is not moving. i think it was a total surprise to her. she did not see it coming. >> perhaps premeditated on the killer's part?

>> it may have been or he may have just wanted to get in her car for whatever reason to, talk with her. we often see these start with i just wanted to talk with her, but she didn't say what i wanted her to say or for whatever reason. so the rage is there, but the guy had a knife. so we're obviously talk about somebody who had some criminal intent in his head somewhere. >> one last question. the glaring fact in this case, how could this happen on the road in broad daylight, not one eyewitness has come forward? >> well, i think we always say that, but there's a thing called the window of opportunity. people don't usually do things when they're being seen. so at some point when that person entered her car they realized nobody was really watching and as it went along wherever he committed that crime, nobody saw it go down and sometimes it's just main luck on the part of the perpetrator and he's probably sitting back there thinking i got away with it and hopefully he didn't. >> hopefully somebody out there sees this and realizes they may think they got away with it, but they didn't.

pat brown, criminal profilist, thank you for your time tonight. new tonight virginia state police need your help after finding a man with life threatening injuries dumped along interstate 66. state police found the 20-year- old man on the nutley street northbound ramp in vienna just after midnight this morning. he is in critical condition. it's believed he was assaulted, not hit by a car. you have any information or spotted anything suspicious in that area, give state police a call. a redskins player is in trouble with the law tonight. defensive lineman joe joseph was arrested for driving under the influence. he was taken into custody in loudoun county early this morning hours after the team returned home from jacksonville. joseph is new to the team. he joined the practice squad 10 days ago and was promoted to the active roster for yesterday's game. so far no comment from the redskins. you know when you're going to the airport, you're going to get x-rayed. it's possible by the time you get through security a tsa agent may have literally had

their hands all over you. cargo coming into the country is still a weak point. this is an alarming amount that never gets checked. >> reporter: data provided by the tsa suggests there is now 100% screening for cargo on domestic flights. the same is true for passenger flights leaving the u.s. with cargo in their hulls, but there's still a gap for those nights coming into the u.s. from overseas. a tsa official told fox 70% of the cargo is screened. on the sunday talk shows secretary napolitano said homeland security is using several layers of screening this holiday season. the printer bombs last october were a wake-up call. u.s. officials say terrorist yet no,s like al qaeda and yemen have tried toke moat -- terrorists like al qaeda and yemen have tried to use the cargo planes. >> we are trying to use some tweaks or adjustments to the u.s. system within the united

states, but i it hits fair to say that our most important adjustments will be made with respect to cargo coming into the country. >> reporter: the printer bombs were sent from yemen and used petn, a nonmetallic explosive not typically detected by standard screening. to emphasize the potential risk posed by cargo, one of the bombs was carried by at least two passenger jets before it was intercepted in dubai. using a timer linked to a cell phone for detonation, scotland yard later confirmed at least one of the devices was meant to blow up over the u.s. >> that was the one vulnerability that really was very, very major, the point that had that plane exploded over the eastern coast of the united states, there could have been a lot of deaths. >> reporter: as for the risks posed by overflights, the planes that fly through u.s. airspace but do not take off or land from american airports, a tsa official says the department uses a risk-based approach which means you can't protect everything all the time and while overnights are a concern, they aren't as high a

priority as domestic passenger flights. 36 days before yesterday's game, that is how long it's been since the redskins' last victory. even though they won't make it to the playoffs, they can still crush the hopes of a bitter rival. we're back right after this. 

i'm ever never the satellite center now with sports direct -- i'm laura evans in the satellite center now with dave feldman and the redskins giving a win, a nice christmas present to the fans. >> four weeks, november 21st they beat the tennessee titans, the last time we talked about a win. >> happy day in my house yesterday. i think fans forget how that feels. >> except only, you know what? your husband could have been upset, too, because more wins hurts their draft pick status. when you finish worse. you knew that. >> yup. >> jacksonville was like nfc east weather. just when it appeared the

redskins were down, had nothing left, a ragtag hodgepodge group of backup rookies helped break the team's four game losing streak and in the process ruined the jaguars christmas and perhaps their chance at a playoff spot. the redskins defense ranked last in the nfl that started game, well, only five starters from open dig were on the field, yet they won. mike shanahan -- opening day were on the field, yet they won. mike shanahan, what did you have? >> a couple defensive players stepped up, a couple offensive players get their opportunity. definitely helps your chances for next year. the starters got to play at a little higher level than before. they've got to play their best game as well. i was pleased with the effort. wasn't perfect by any means on either side of the ball, but we got the effort that you needed to find a way to win. >> we've been fighting hard for the last four or five weeks and been coming up short, you know. our progress has been here.

people might not see it, but we see it as a team. we feel it and we're just trying to get over the hump. >> everyone is being evaluated, even santana moss who went over 1,000 yards receiving. rex grossman is really the guy under the microscope and here's the deal. only two of the 14 drives the redskins had went over 20 yards, so really kind of a so- so day for rex grossman, not as good assed previous week. >> where does all this -- as good as the previous week. >> where does all this leave nab be in? >> he's still out there -- donovan mcnabb? >> he's still out there, although there was a report the other day he wants out and want him traded. i think the redskins don't want him around either clearly the way kyle and mike shanahan have responded. >> what about the spoiler role for the skins? >> they probably ruined jacksonville's chances. they still have a chance, but it looks like it won't happen. now they'll try to ruin bob barnard's new york giants. >> and tom fitzgerald's, too. >> we've got a lot of giants fans living in washington d.c.

and the fox 5 newsroom, but they have a good chance. the giants could have done it themselves. they didn't. they'll try to beat the giants. game time switched to 4:15. >> brian, back up to you. >> ely manning is doing a good job of ruining the new york giants chances. for days there were question about which area would get hit the hardest. find out why this one was so hard to forecast. also ahead. >> reporter: how do you save millions of dollars when it threatens to snow on a christmas holiday? the secret is in this stuff.

you're watching fox 5 news at 10:00. ocean city maryland up to its knees in snow. this is what we could have had if the storm hadn't turned just in time. sue palka, seemed like there were question marks all the way up to the very first flake falling here. why was this so hard to call? >> that's a very good question. it really wasn't until about 12

to 24 hours before this storm got going that we could say with certainty what it was going to be doing in d.c. let me show you what we rely on for these forecasts. a lot of times we are talking about souter models. those are sim -- computer models. those are similations of what the atmosphere is going to do. last year when we had our three storms, the various computer models within a few days really came into agreement with what would happen and it was with great confidence we could say it would be a 1 to 2-foot snowstorm for d.c. in this case those models were quite a bit different and models that we trust a lot would either have it too close to the coast or too far away and it came down to a question of which track would it take, more to the east or to the west? now we get those models about four times a day and sometimes within the course of a day it would flip back and forth between 50 and 100 miles and so we knew that that meant we were going to have a real close call with this storm and you could not be confident because it was very hard to pinpoint since the

models were different with pretty much of run. bottom line, we knew that 50 to 100 miles was going to make a huge difference and when you look at the difference between d.c. and southern maryland, 50 miles, they had 5 inches of snow. when you look at the difference between d.c. and ocean city, less than 150 miles away, 13.5 inches of snow out there. so it came down to the track and those minor fluctuations that the models had a difficult time getting a grasp on. salisbury, maryland 11 inches, leonardtown maryland, 4 inches, elizabeth, new jersey, 32 inches of snow and central park, philly and boston up and over a foot of snow. so we came within 50 to 100 miles. i say we got real lucky and the luckiest person was me because i was off last weekend and didn't have to deal with it. it was quite a challenge and i followed it from greensboro, north carolina, where we got 4 inches of snow. >> you got more than we did. back to ocean city now, this storm had a bigger impact on the coast than it's used to seeing.

usually the snow falls more to the west. the winds had people worried about beach erosion. fortunately that hasn't been a lot of that. a $9 million beach replenishment project might have helped. ocean city may have been walloped by snow, but a few miles to the west nothing and that made it difficult and potentially expensive to plan how many plows were needed on the roads. fox 5's tisha thompson shows us the different strategy says local leaders used to prepare for a lot or a little bit of snow. >> reporter: pretreating major highways and overpasses was the secret to saving money. the maryland state highway administration says brine treatments last three to five days. so maryland, d.c. and virginia started spreading the stuff thursday to avoid bringing in crews on christmas day. >> this you know was a tricky storm because the forecast was kind of you could get a blizzard or you can get a dusting and it kind of went back and forth like that. so we planned for the worst and hoped for the best. >> reporter: maryland and many of its counties avoided paying

a premium by waiting to mobilize plow trucks until early sunday morning, but in northern virginia holiday pay went into effect because it sent out about 65% of its trucks late christmas day. >> we always error on the side of caution. so we will always make sure that the roads are treated. >> reporter: cdot said d.c. was prepared to pay time and a half and send out its entire crew christmas night. >> when the snow didn't come, those crews were saying what are we going to do? we had conference calls throughout the day and reassessed and we ended up bringing down the operations earlier than anticipated. >> i think we absolutely did it right, planned ahead, had everything stocked, ready to roll. >> reporter: in spite of all the pretreating it's still going to be an expensive weekend, but of jurisdiction we talked to said they won't know the final numbers for a few days. he has become one of the most famous men in the world

and of the u.s. government's least favorite people. now wikileaks founder julian assange is going to write an autobiography, but he says he's not happy about it. why he says he's being forced to do it next. can i eat heart healthy without giving up taste? a man can only try... and try...and try. i heard eating whole grain oats can help lower my cholesterol. it's gonna be tough...so tough. my wife and i want to lower our cholesterol,

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wiki leak founder julian assange -- wikileaks founder julian assange is going to tell his life story but is not happy about it. assange reportedly signed a book deal that will pay him more than a million dollars. assange is not interested but said he needs the money after spending thousands of dollars defending himself against sex crimes and he needs cash to keep wikileaks afloat.

the most admired people in the country are at the top another year. for the third straight year president barack obama is the most admired man according to the usa today gallop pole. secretary of state hillary clinton is on a long winning streak, the most admired woman the ninth year in a row. the poll asks people in the united states to name the person they admire most. minutes away on the news edge at 11:00 a good bottle of wine doesn't have to cost a whole lot of money, tips that won't break the bank. and people say friend me on facebook. now you can group me. this one has to do with your cell phone, the details on the edge.

looking back now at some of the top stories of the year, 2010 brought a devastating natural disaster and a massive outpouring of support. a volcanic eruption and a miracle ending. fox news senior correspondent shepherd smith takes us through the year. >> reporter: horror quickly overshadows the new decade. january 12th, a massive

earthquake hits 80, killing more than 2 -- hits haiti killing more than 200,000 people, one of the deadliest national disasters on record. february 22nd, president obama signs a major healthcare legislation into law. >> this year tens of thousands of uninsured americans with preexisting conditions, the parents of children who have a preexisting condition will finally be able to purchase the coverage they need. >> reporter: republicans challenge its constitutionality. april 5th an explosion at a coal mine in west virginia kills 29 people. it's the worst disaster of its kind in the united states since 1970. april 14th an eruption felt around the world, massive clouds of smoke and ash spew from a volcano in iceland for weeks affecting millions of travelers. april 25th, a bp oil rig explodes in the gulf of mexico. 11 workers are killed and the largest oil spill in u.s.

history began. eventually millions of gallons of crude would gush into the water for nearly three months. bp replaces tony hayward and the former chief executive gets his wish granted. >> i want my life back. >> reporter: april 23rd lawmakers in arizona enact a controversial immigration law. >> this bill protects all of us, every arizona citizen and everyone here in our state lawfully. >> reporter: but months later a federal judge blocked some of its toughest provisions. may 2nd, a street vendor in new york city reports smoke coming from an suv in times square. police discover a homemade bomb inside the parked vehicle. a 30-year-old pakistani american named faisal shahzad pleads guilty to 10 counts related to fa that failed bombing and a judge sentences him to life in prison. june 3rd, joran van der sloot

is arrested in peru. investigators accuse him of murdering another woman. june 23rd, general stanley mcchrystal stems down as commander of u.s. troops -- steps down as commander of u.s. troops in afghanistan after the rolling stone publishes embarrassing comments he made about the obama administration. general david petraeus takes over his post. july 25th, wikileaks releases thousands of military documents related to the war in afghanistan and beyond. the whistle blowing site later posts even more secret files that chronicle the war in iraq and u.s. diplomatic communications. >> it puts people's lives in danger, threatens our national security and undermines our efforts to work with other countries. >> reporter: august 7th, the senate confirms elena kagan to the supreme court. >> congratulations. [ applause ] >> reporter: replacing the retiring justice john paul stevens. august 17th, a verdict in former illinois governor rod

blagojevich's corruption trial. jurors find blago guilty for making false statements but can't decide on 23 other counts. >> they threw everything they could at me, 24 charges that i said from the beginning are false and the jury agreed that the government did not prove its case. >> reporter: august 31st president obama officially ends u.s. combat operations in iraq. >> it's good to see that we've done something good there. >> reporter: october 13th and what may be the feel good story of the year after a cave-in traps 33 miners in chile underground more than two months, rescuers finally pull the men to the surface. november 2nd voters go to the polls for midterm elections. republicans celebrated. their party takes over the house of representatives and makes gains in the senate. >> i spent my whole life chasing the american dream. >> reporter: november 17th, prince williams is officially

off the market. buckingham palace announces he will marry his long time girl friend kate middleton. november 23rd a surprise attack, north korea bombs a south korean island killing four people. the united states and south korea hold military exercises and warn the north against acting provocatively. looking ahead contenders for the 2012 presidential race will begin to emerge while a divided congress tries to move the nation forward and, of course, the big royal wedding set for the 29th of april sure to draw worldwide attention. in new york i'm shepherd smith, fox news. >> what a year it's been in weather, too. >> wow. and ringing it out in fine fashion. i have before me nine pages of snow totals, unbelievable. >> all from elsewhere. >> d.c. got a 1/2-inch. >> but we didn't panic. i don't hear very many complaints. >> it's hard to it, right? it seems mixed. i think some people wish we got the snow because it seemed like everybody was getting it and i think some people could care

less. >> i think our taste buds were drenched from last february. >> hey, there's lots more winter to go, but by far and away the most impressive totals have been coming out of new jersey where we found this viral time lapse. we wanted to share it with you. it's belmar, new jersey. a science teacher took a time lapse every five minutes for 20 hours, set it up automatically and he ended up getting about 29 inches of snow. isn't that a great idea? so we got to watch belmar, new jersey right on the coast getting blasted. what an amazing thing and tell you what, a picture does say a thousand words. that's exactly why we are glad we missed this thing. it's just too big. tonight it's winding up. the snow is really letting up as our system is north east of maine. in the next 12 hours we believe it will be pulling away, but we're still close enough to the center of that storm while we didn't get the snow, we're

certainly getting the big wins and that will continue for a little bit long -- winds and that will continue for a little bit longer tonight. we had winds earlier today gusting to 55 miles an hour. now it's down to 30 miles an hour. that is not a picnic, but it's better than what we had earlier and the winds will continue to lighten by tomorrow afternoon and into tomorrow evening, but prepare for tomorrow morning, could still find some winds gusting to 30 miles an hour and it feels real bad with these temperatures. good news, a warming trend in the forecast, not tomorrow but late week and it will time out nicely for new year's eve and new year's day. speak of new year's day, that's our next chance of precipitation, looks like it's rain because temperatures could be into the 50s by then. meanwhile wind gusts still a problem tonight still gusting to 30 at washington and annapolis, baltimore 24, 39- mile an hour wind gusts in frederick where earlier today there were gusts as high as 66 miles an hour in that region. we have a prediction of what may happen with the winds going

through the next 24 hours. tonight we're still seeing gusts to 30 as you can see in the red and notice that our legend shows us gusts to 40 miles an hour. this could still be a few spots seeing that at 9:00 in the morning. watch what happens going through the day. the lighter winds 10 to 15 start pushing into the region and by tomorrow night while there might be one last blast, it certainly will be a trend that will be improving in terms of the wind. meanwhile today 37 degrees, that's the best we did. dulles 34, bwi36. we'll be close to that again tomorrow. we're at 33 degrees now, the wind keeping the atmosphere a little mixed up, so not as bitter cold in terms of air temperature, but when you factor in the wind, it feels like it's in the teens. that's how we'll roll through the rest of the night. how about some good news? we could all use it. tomorrow still cold 37. check out thursday, 45 degrees. new year's eve 46 degrees and saturday could be the warmest day we have had since december 1st when we got up to 65

degrees. i know we don't remember that anymore. meanwhile the wind advisory got canceled at 9:00. it will be blustery and cold with wind chills in the teens. tomorrow looks blustery but not as bad as today in terms of the wind. certainly be very bright. you'll need sunglasses. wind chill will be in the 20s, our air temperature 37 with winds 15 to 25 and occasionally gusting to 30. here is your planner. by noon we're at 35 and by 4:00 34 degrees. so we look at rather a settled week, lot of sunshine tuesday, wednesday, thursday. i think the warming trend will feel great, a lot of people talking about the rain for new year's day, especially the sports department because of the big outdoor hockey game that the caps will be heading up to in pittsburgh, but nice and cozy around here and 54, love it. coming up next it's award season in hollywood, the golden globes and oscars around the corner. we'll look at the movies vying for top honors next. today's five-day forecast is brought to you by your local

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christmas may be over, but hollywood is looking for the biggest gifts early in the year. the major award shows now gearing up to honor the top films of 2010. fox's adam housley has a preview of some of the contenders. >> the nominees in the category a of best documentary are. >> reporter: tis the season to recognize hollywood's best and brightest as several award shows prepare to honor the year in film. >> you can do something substantial in order to get the attention of the club. >> reporter: always quite a mix of movies from popular to obscure, some are long gone from theaters while others are currently raking in big bucks. big studios are always the winners as many smaller independent flicks hope a little recognition will entice moviegoers to choose them instead of the much publicized blockbuster.

>> you're peculiar. >> i take that as i a compliment. >> reporter: finding a perfect pitch, the king's pitch tops all who come before his majesty with the most recognition followed by the fighter and black swan with natalie portman taking the spotlight in the best actress slot. >> the best thing you want, you know, anyone part of making a film is for an audience to be excited by it. >> so great to meet you. >> reporter: getting less attention because her film is already out on dvd, annette benning's performance in the kids are all right is still getting buzz. >> create the world of the dream. >> reporter: two blockbusters also still getting attention, inception and the social network are more likely to benefit come oscar time, two of the 10 films eligible for the best picture rate. >> i'm a guy. >> what do you say? >> reporter: other films and roles garnering